About Susan Mast

At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year.
— Thomas Tusser

Thank you for visiting Team KNK and reading this post! Today our project is a mini book created from 6×9″ envelopes. Our design focus is on three simple shapes (bird, heart and star) that repeat throughout the project. The above cover photo shows the bird.

Page 2 features the heart.

Pages 3 and 4 show the star and the bird.

Pages 5 and 6 show the heart and star (attached to the black pull out tag). See how the shapes repeat and bring a familiar flow to this project?

Pages 7 and 8 feature the star shape. You again see the reverse side of the star and now the heart that peeks out from the kraft pull out tag.

The final layout of this mini book features the bird, but you still see the star and heart from the tag pull outs. Note how I embellished the hearts and stars differently each time they were featured?

I created each shape node by node. I am amazingly quick at just starting with points, converting to poly-arc and curving lines. I get lots of practice. I usually import a clip art shape into my screen to use for scale and then I tweak the shape to suit my needs.

If you would like to create your very own version of an envelope book, here is an instructional video that I created for a recent class.

Like this:

“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. ” ― Roy L. Smith

A simple font (Times New Roman) and letters sized to 9.5″ tall. This quick and easy project is a great addition to your holiday decor! Each letter was shadowed individually using Transform>Contour Object (I used 5 as my contour setting).

Additionally some Christmas shapes were added to my banner: holly leaves, jumping reindeer, holiday bow and a little bird. I create all my cutting files by scratch using a node by node method (please review my prior posts if you need direction on how to do this.)

Notes: I love to “frame my layouts and choose a sheet of 12×12 cardstock as the foundation for my page and layer a 11.5×11.5 cardstock as my “canvas.” I’m a big fan of die cut titles…if the project is something that I need to recreate many times I will choose a font that can be welded. This is a ONE and DONE layout, so I opted to work with individual letters. A brewing caldron with witch shoes was the perfect compliment to my cute witch photo. I create all my cutting files by scratch using a node by node method (please review my prior posts if you need direction on how to do this.)

Step 3: Add photo(s) and embellish! I used a striped straw as witch legs and tucked them into the separate top piece created for the cauldron. I glued witch shoes to the front and back sides of the shoes and tied bakers twine around them.

Step 4: Embellish more! I cut doubles of each bat and secured the first to the page and added the second one directly on top using a foam pop-dot. I bend the bat wings and added bling for eyes.

A few extra pounds look good on your die cuts! Simple Halloween shapes were created using points, converting to a poly-arc and curving lines. Import a clip art shape into your screen to use for scale and then tweak the shape to suit your needs. These shapes were cut using double sided smooth cardstock, however if you were doing this project with textured cardstock or patterned paper you would need have a mirror image of your shape. This is an easy fix with the KNK software. Just create your main image, make a duplicate of this image (ctrl d). Click on the duplicated image and go to Layout > Size Move > Mirror > Horizontal. Now you have a exact mirror image of your shape.

Once your shapes are cut you will need to glue them together. BE SURE to leave an opening when gluing the shapes together to stuff with batting. Have some clips handy to hold the die cuts together while the glue dries.

Next…stuff your shapes with batting. Glue the opening closed and embellish as desired. Display them in a bowl, scatter them around for your decor, hang them on a dead tree, make them into a mobile and/or use as a gift tag. Only 3 sheets of 12×12 cardstock were used to create these projects. Embellishments from designer’s stash.

I keep my 15″ KNK Maxx settings at Overcut 15 & Trailing Blade 20 because I only use my machine to cut paper.

Please visit the KNK Gallery on my website to see more projects that I have created using my Klic N Kut. On Saturday (9/28) my blog post will feature Christmas shapes using this method on a smaller scale. I hope you will click on over!

Share and Inspire:

Like this:

“I want to say something so embarrassing about September that even the leaves start blushing and turning red.” ~ Jarod Kintz

Celebrate the fall season with this easy fun banner!

We are seeing pennants and flags everywhere and once you “master” this simple technique you can make your own.

Easily adapt this project for other seasons, holidays or events.

Re-size it so it’s suitable for a card, scrapbook page or giant banner that hangs across a large room!

Flags were created with the KNK Software by determining their width, finding the bottom center, adding a node and moving it upward. Once the font was determined (Constantia) the scale of the letters were altered to make them taller and thinner. Just a design choice – this project would still be great if the letters were short and fat!

I keep my 15″ KNK Maxx settings at Overcut 15 & Trailing Blade 20 because I only use my machine to cut paper.

Please visit the KNK Gallery on my website to see more projects that I have created using my Klic N Kut.